The Exception
by charrrr
Summary: Alec and Magnus used to be best friends. Now, Alec hates Magnus. Will they become close again while on holiday with their families or will it make Alec hate him even more? AU, AH.
1. Prologue

Alec Lightwood watched the raindrops smash against the car window, drowning out the voices of his family and getting lost in his own thoughts. He was furious that his parents were making him, his sister, and his brothers spend their school holiday some place in the countryside where there was probably nothing at all to do. His siblings hadn't taken the news well either, but Alec found it worse than they did because his parents had invited the Bane family to join them.

Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood had known each other since they were little because they used to live next door to each other and their parents were good friends. The boys were best friends, did everything together and were inseparable at the time. They were similar, but also very different, and somehow that made them the perfect friend for each other. Even when Magnus moved half an hour away, they stayed best friends and were always over at one another's homes. But then as the years went on, their friendship changed because of two things: Jace and High School.

When the Lightwood's adopted Jace, Alec was thrilled to have a brother nearer to the same age as him than Max was, and he and Jace became close instantly. But Magnus didn't like Jace and had claimed that Alec would do anything Jace asked him to, and he felt like Jace was replacing him. No matter how many times Alec reassured Magnus that he would always be his best friend, it didn't work. They grew apart and only spoke to each other a few times a week, if that.

And then, when they started High School, they became strangers. Magnus, being the confident and charming guy he was, became the most popular student there whereas Alec was too shy and reserved to make many friends. If they passed each other in the corridor, they barely glanced at each other.

Magnus used to be a nice, sweet kid. Now, he was bitchy and thought that he was better than everybody else. Everybody knew that he had a reputation of going from person to person, dating somebody only for a week or so until he got bored of them. But still, nearly every girl and boy in school felt special if Magnus singled them out and thought they would be the exception, the one to change his slutty ways. None of them ever were the exception, of course.

Magnus' friends were horrible people and more than once had bullied Alec; he was their favourite target because they saw him as weak and geeky. Magnus never joined in when they were taunting Alec, but he didn't stop them either, he just sat there and let them bully his old best friend, like he couldn't care less.

Alec detested Magnus now, hence why he was so angry about his mum and dad dragging him onto the 'holiday' with the Bane family.

Alec had no idea whatsoever about how he was going to survive these next two weeks.

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**So, I know this is quite short but it is just the prologue, after all. Please review and let me know if you're interested in it so I know whether or not I should continue writing it!** **If I do continue, the chapters will definitely be longer than this.**

**Charlotte xo  
**


	2. Chapter 1

**Thank you to those that left reviews! I hope you like this chapter :-) xo**

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"You have got to be kidding me," Isabelle said as the Lightwood family clambered out of the car and saw where they would be staying for the next two weeks.

The house was huge, probably four floors, but wasn't pretty. It looked like it was falling apart and had thick moss covering half of the walls; the window panes were dirty and no doubt impossible to see through. The paint on the door and window ledges was cracked and peeling. The house was utterly horrific. Fields and hills surrounded the area and in the distance, woodlands.

"What the hell are we going to do here?" Isabelle protested. "Seriously, mum. Why couldn't we have gone someplace exotic?"

"Stop moaning," Mayrse rolled her eyes. "We can go for long walks or just stay at home and relax. There's a little village about half an hour away that you can look around. And we have each other for company!"

"That's the problem," Isabelle smiled innocently at her mother.

"Oh, here they are. This should be entertaining," Jace grinned as another car pulled up into the driveway behind theirs.

Alec watched as the Bane family got out of the car: Michael, Jemima, Magnus and Maia. His eyes stayed focused on Magnus; tall, dark and handsome. He had his usual perfect hairstyle and glitter eyeliner on and was wearing very tight skinny jeans with a sparkly purple vest top. His usual cocky grin was on his face… Until he saw the house.

Jace laughed as Magnus' face fell into complete disbelief. "Look at that. For once, Sparkles is speechless."

Alec didn't know what to say as the Bane's walked over and started greeting his family. He could see Jace glaring at Magnus - usually Alec would always have to tell Jace to at least try and be nice, but he knew it was pointless when the person involved was Magnus. Jace sometimes defended Alec at school when he was around, but Alec always told him not to; he'd rather fight his own battles. Jace hated Magnus more than the bullies, simply because he always just stood by and let them say stuff even though he and Alec had been friends once.

"Hey Alec," a deep, irresistible voice said. Alec looked up to see Magnus' strange green eyes staring down at him, a small smile on his face. "Can you believe we're going to be staying here? It looks so boring and old."

"Yeah, it's pretty horrible," Alec said quietly, feeling himself start blushing like he always did because of his shy nature. "We came here once before though and it wasn't so boring then."

He saw Magnus blink as he remembered the time Mayrse had brought the boys here for a week when they were about seven years old. The house had been in much better condition then and by the end of the week, the boys hadn't wanted to leave. Of course, seven year olds have much better imagination than eighteen year olds though, so they had been able to make the place fun for themselves all those years ago.

"Oh, yeah!" Magnus laughed as he remembered the trip. "I didn't even realise that this was the same place-"

"Alec, we're sharing a room," Jace interrupted them, walking over. "We better start taking our bags into the house." He shot Magnus another hateful glare.

"Yeah sure," Alec said. "See you later, Magnus."

"Yeah, see you."

Jace dragged Alec away before they could say anything else to each other. "What are you playing at?" He asked Alec when they were out of hearing distance. "Why were you being nice to him after how much he's hurt you?"

"I wasn't being nice to him," Alec sighed. "I was just making conversation."

"Good. Because you don't want Magnus Bane as a friend again, you know what he's like. I'm not trying to be bossy, I'm just warning you that he might act friendly to you here because he has none of his followers with him, but as soon as you get back to school he'll go back to ignoring you," Jace said, his gentle tone making the words less harsh.

"I know that, Jace. And trust me, I don't plan on being friends with Magnus Bane ever again."

-#-

Magnus watched as Alec and Jace walked away from him, a frown on his face. He often watched Alec at school and always found it sweet whenever he blushed because of the littlest things so he couldn't help himself when he smiled at Alec's blush just then. But then… Jace came over and Alec's blush deepened, his eyes widening as if he felt like he'd been caught doing something wrong.

And that's when Magnus realised that Alec was in love with Jace. He'd wondered about Alec's sexuality a few times, but only now did he have his true answer. He knew that he had no right being jealous after everything that had happened between him and Alec, but he still couldn't help himself.

"Magnus," his sister Maia broke him from his thoughts. "Tell me the truth. The bet between you and Sebastian…"

"What about it, Maia?" He sighed.

"Well… Are you really going to go through with it? You and Alec used to be so close, why would you do that to him?" She asked quietly.

"Just stay out of it, Maia. The bet has nothing to do with you."

-#-

The inside of the house was in better condition than the outside, but Alec wasn't happy about that. Everything just brought back memories of when he was younger and had come here with Magnus: the marble staircase they had slid down numerous times, the library they had spent hours in reading The Wizard of Oz, the cupboard they hid in for a full day after they broke a vase and were scared of how Mayrse would react. The attic - which they had been convinced was haunted - which Magnus dared Alec to go up into; Alec had broke down in tears afterwards and Magnus had cheered him up by suggesting they bake a cake together, which had let to them making a complete mess of the kitchen and breaking the cooker.

Each memory made Alec smile, which he hated because he didn't want to be reminded of how nice Magnus used to be; it made him hate the new Magnus even more.

_Stop it, _he thought to himself as he unpacked his clothes. _Stop thinking about Magnus; he isn't worth it. _

_No matter how many times he told himself this though, he couldn't get the guy out of his mind._


	3. Chapter 2

When Alec awoke, he had a smile on his face as echoes from his dream remained in his mind. The dreams he had of him and Jace being _together_ were always the best and usually left him in a good mood at least for the rest of the morning.

However, as his eyes focused and the plain white ceiling came into view, his smile faded away. That wasn't the ceiling with the glow in the dark stars on it that had been in his room since he was little. Then realization flooded his mind and he remembered where he was: the country house.

In his and Jace's room, he had chosen the bed near the window because he liked leaving the window open at night and feeling the fresh air as he slept. The sound of screeches of laughter came through his window. Curiously, Alec sat up and peered out of the window. In the back garden, Magnus and Max were having a water fight.

Alec's eyes drifted to the older of the two and he found himself staring as his tight shirt clung to him tighter than usual and was slightly see-through from the water, revealing his strong abs. Alec knew it was wrong to be checking him out - and he didn't want to be, it was _Magnus_ for crying out loud - but he was mesmerized and couldn't take his eyes off him.

"You coming down for breakfast or what?" Jace asked a minute later as he walked back into the bedroom from their en-suite bathroom, his hair damp from the shower he must have just had.

Alec tore his eyes away from Magnus, nodded, and clambered out of bed. After getting ready in the bathroom, he followed Jace downstairs and into the kitchen where the others were. Isabelle and Maia were sat at the breakfast counter, talking and giggling about some actor they thought was cute. Personally, Alec thought he was nothing special, but he didn't say anything due to the fact it would make the others slightly suspicious: none of them knew he was gay and he wanted to keep it that way for now. He _did_ plan on telling them, he just wasn't sure when the right time was. The four adults were around the table, talking about God knows what. Alec didn't really care to be honest.

He poured himself some orange juice and made himself some toast, before sitting next to his mother at the table. Jace sat next to him with some bacon, tapping away on his phone. Alec figured that Jace was probably texting his mysterious girlfriend, Clary. Apparently, she was home schooled which is how the others didn't know her, and although Jace talked about her a lot and seemed pretty smitten with her, he hadn't introduced her to the family yet. When Jace was texting Clary, or talking about her, Alec's jealousy got the best of himself and he found himself thinking of ways to split the couple up. He hated Clary already, but wouldn't go through with any of the plans he thought up, because he loved seeing the smile that lit up Jace's face when he talked about her. Alec just wished that it was him making him smile like that, not her.

Just as Alec finished eating his toast, Magnus walked in - completely drenched - and slid into the seat across from Alec, leaning over the table to talk to him. "Morning Alexander," he said. Alec frowned at the use of his full name. "I'm heading to the village soon to do some grocery shopping so we all don't starve here. My mum's forcing me to go because she's too lazy to go herself," he joked. "I was wondering if you wanted to come with me? It'd be a much less boring trip if I had some company."

"No, Magnus," Alec sighed. "I don't want to go anywhere with you."

"Alec!" Mayrse gasped after hearing his response. "Don't be so rude! You and Magnus used to be such good friends… Honestly, I don't even know what happened between you two." She shook her head and looked at Magnus, smiling warmly at him. "He'll go with you, love."

"Brilliant," Magnus replied, flashing her his famous, charming smile.

Alec resisted the urge to punch him in the face and wipe that damn smile off his face.

Why didn't his mum realise that he clearly didn't want to spend time with Magnus? Parents could be so oblivious sometimes!

"Could Jace come too then?" Alec asked hopefully, not wanting to be alone with Magnus.

The thing he was most scared about was getting along with Magnus and forgiving him for the past. He didn't necessarily want to forgive him. What if Jace was right and things just returned to normal when the holiday was over? He didn't want to get his friend back, only to lose him again. But he was also scared of _not_ getting along with Magnus in case he found out that the old Magnus was gone forever.

Man, this was a complicated situation.

Alec looked at Mayrse and tried pleading with his eyes for her to say yes. Instead, she simply said, "no. We need as many people as possible to help clean the pool if we want to fill it up."

Right at the back of the garden, someone had once built a swimming pool in the ground. It was still there, but was now empty of water and covered in dirt and mould. Alec suddenly remembered all the times he and Magnus had gone swimming in there when it was filled up all those years ago. They'd used their imagination to pretend they were in the sea, swimming away from sharks or being famous divers searching for new types of fish. By the small smile on Magnus' face, Alec guessed he was also remembering those times. He was glad that he wouldn't have to clean it up, but he'd much rather have done that instead of having to spend time alone with Magnus Bane.

Magnus pushed his chair back, stood up and said, "I'll just go change into some dry clothes and then we can set off. By the way, I'm driving."

_-#-_

Half an hour. That was how long the car ride to the village would last and after just three minutes of awkward silence between them, Alec felt like he was being tortured. Magnus must have also realised how awkward the silence was because he let go of the steering wheel with one hand and turned on the radio, flicking through the different stations until a Britney Spears song came on.

"Are you serious?" Alec said, frowning at him.

"What? Britney's amazing! Do not tell me you don't like Britney," Magnus looked horrified.

"I like Britney," Alec said. "But this song is terrible. Are you tone deaf or something?"

"Fine," Magnus snapped, sounding angry but now smiling. "You pick a song then, see if your music taste is any better." Alec flicked through the stations until he found one he liked, then settled back in the seat. "Linkin Park? Really?"

"Do not tell me you don't like Linkin Park," Alec said, his imitation of Magnus terrible.

Magnus laughed and shook his head. "No, I do! I just didn't think you would, you don't look like the type to like their music. I imagined you more of an indie band fan or something.."

Somehow, the rest of the car ride passed quickly as they talked about and had debates on the music they liked. They liked a lot of the same stuff, but argued on equally a lot. The village was bigger than they had expected so they had to stop outside one of the old houses to ask a man who was out walking his dog, for directions to the local supermarket.

Jemima had given Magnus a shopping list so as Alec pushed the trolley, Magnus rushed around like a madman trying to find all the right things. Alec couldn't help but laugh at him; even when he was younger, Magnus had had this manic attitude and Alec was glad to see that at least that hadn't changed.

They joked around a little as they searched for the things, and at one point got told to quieten down by the security guard. It didn't quite feel as fun as their old friendship had been, but Alec had to admit that he was enjoying himself more than he thought he would. He wasn't quiet ready to forgive Magnus and be close friends with him again, but he could feel himself starting to like the boy again and was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, the old Magnus was still in there somewhere.

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**BIG thank you to everybody that has reviewed/favourited the story. I tried to make this chapter a little longer than the others but had to rush the end slightly; I hope it still all makes sense and isn't a big disappointment or anything! Please let me know what you think :) I appreciate constructive criticism if you have anything bad to say, haha.  
**

**And just so you know, I plan to update sometime within the next few days or so.  
**

**Char xo  
**


	4. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the reviews! :-)  
OK, I planned to update earlier than this so I'm sorry it took so long. I'm also sorry that the chapter is so short, it's just a filler chapter really. I had to write this to lead to the better stuff, so I can promise you that the next chapter will be longer than this! xo**

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By the time Magnus and Alec got home, Alec was dragged into the kitchen by his mother because apparently he was a great cook and he'd agreed to cook every evening while they were there. Magnus stayed in the kitchen with them for a few minutes without saying anything, until Jace silently joined them and made Magnus uncomfortable by his constant glaring.

Magnus drifted upstairs to his bedroom - which just so happened to be the room he and Alec shared years ago - and laid on his back on the floor in the middle of the room. Whenever he needed to think, he laid on the floor instead of the bed. Strange, yes, but then again, strange was just one word that described Magnus perfectly.

He'd enjoyed himself with Alec today. It had been a simple day, but one of the most fun ones he had had in a while, he honestly couldn't remember when he had last laughed that much. It seemed too good to be true that Alec had managed to forget about their past and get along with him after such a short amount of time. But if Magnus remembered correctly, it wasn't actually that unusual - Alec had always been the forgiving, kind type that liked to give people second chances.

Magnus couldn't stop thinking about Alec. The way his beautiful blue eyes lit up when he laughed, the seductive way his lips moved when he said Magnus' name, the adorable way his cheeks blushed red whenever the attention was focused on him. He couldn't understand why Alec had such an effect on him after just one day. Whenever Magnus saw him around school, he admired his beauty but that was it, nothing more.

Alec was always the quiet geek who chose Jace over Magnus. Magnus _hated_ Alec. The only reason he was being nice to him was because of that stupid damn bet between him and Ragnor. At least, that's what he kept telling himself. Because today with Alec, he had been genuinely enjoying himself, as much as he hated to admit it.

Magnus had been heartbroken by his first ever boyfriend. After that, he promised himself that he would never let him get himself in that situation again, wouldn't let himself have strong feelings for anybody ever again. That's why his relationships never lasted longer than two weeks, so he wouldn't get attached.

_But what if somebody came along and they were the exception? The one person who I could fall in love with plain and simple, and have a true future with? _The thought came to Magnus out of nowhere, startling him. Yes, he and Alec used to be friends and yes, they had had fun today. But that didn't mean Magnus wanted to be friends again - or more - because he was still angry at Alec for choosing Jace over him all the time years ago.

At that moment, Magnus telling himself over and over again that he hated Alec; that Alec deserved to feel betrayed and replaced just like he did. He told himself that he wouldn't notice the beautiful things about Alec, wouldn't feel anything when they were together. He told himself that he would fake his smiles and laughter….

And he told himself that he would stop at nothing to win the bet.


	5. Chapter 4

Alec woke up to the sound of birds tweeting outside of his window and Jace lightly snoring on the other side of the room. The warm air drifted in through the open window, the bright sunlight momentarily blinding Alec. He loved weather like this so he was automatically in a good mood already.

He stumbled out of bed, trying to move around as quietly as possible so as not to wake Jace. After showering and getting dressed, he headed downstairs for some breakfast. The house was eerily silent - it was too early for any of the others to be awake yet. It was nice to be able to wander around downstairs without bumping into somebody else or hearing laughter coming from another room in the house.

He ate his cereal slowly, wondering what he should do today. He guessed that Jace and Izzy would probably spend the day in the pool and he wasn't sure if he was going to join them. Alec knew that he didn't have a horrible body but he wasn't confident at all, he was awkward and uncomfortable showing off his body. Jace always compared him to some silly teenage girl which hurt Alec's feelings but didn't make him any more confident with his body. After a mental debate, he decided that he wasn't really up for changing into his swimming shorts and letting everybody see him half naked. He decided that he'd probably spend the day cooped up in the house library, reading. Not a very exciting plan for a holiday, but he didn't care. Alec loved reading and getting lost in another world - his favourite books were Supernatural-themed ones, books about demons and vampires and such.

The kitchen door opened and a tall figure walked in. Magnus. His dark hair was sticking up in every direction instead of it's usual gelled neat style, he had no make up on whatsoever which made him look different and younger; Alec thought Magnus still looked amazing even without his usual get up. Alec's eyes widened and he felt his cheeks blushing furiously as he realised that Magnus was wearing nothing but very tight boxers.

Magnus walked over to the fridge, opening it and pulling the milk out, completely oblivious to Alec also being in the room. Alec cleared his throat and Magnus jumped, spinning around. "Alec!" His green eyes widened in shock. "I wasn't expecting anybody to be awake at this time." He put the milk back in the fridge and closed it. He looked embarrassed and Alec had a feeling it was more because of the messy hair and no make-up than his lack of clothes.

They stayed in an awkward silence for a moment or so, and in that time, Alec found himself checking out Magnus' abs. When Magus had had the water fight with Max, Alec had been attracted to the sight of Magnus' shirt clinging to his body. But oh, it was so much better seeing him without the shirt! His muscles were perfectly carved and his golden brown skin looked so smooth and delicate…

"Like what you see?" Magnus asked in a teasing tone, waggling his eyebrows.

"Shut up," Alec mumbled, looking back down at his cereal. "Didn't think you'd be awake at this time."

"I'm a morning person," Magnus replied. "Got to be if I want to get ready in time, takes me forever. So, anyway. Alexander… What are you planning on doing today? You going swimming in the pool?"

Alec shook his head and looked back up to meet Magnus' eyes. "Not in the mood for it. You?"

"I just changed my mind," Magnus smiled. "How about you and I do something? I have a place I want to show you."

"Um… Ok."

"Brilliant! I'll go get dressed and we can leave before the others get up." Magnus grabbed a juicy red apple out of the fruit bowl on the counter and took a large bite out of it.

"Are you not even going to tell me about the place?" Alec asked curiously.

"Nope," Magnus said, making a popping sound as he said the 'P'. "It's a surprise.""Magnus, I don't know if you remember this or not, but I hate surprises…"

"Of course I remember," Magnus rolled his eyes. "You freaked out when I surprised you by cleaning your room that one time, how could I forget that?"

"You didn't clean my room," Alec said, a smile playing at his lips. "You stuffed my clothes under my bed and threw my toys in the bin. _That's_ why I was angry."

"Ah, who really cares about the details?" Magnus shrugged. "Either way, you didn't like my surprise. But I promise, you're going to like this one. Maybe even love it a little bit."

He left the kitchen, heading upstairs to get dressed.

Alec wasn't surprised in the slightest when Magnus came back downstairs in tight jeans, a sparkly t-shirt, gelled hair and a make up covered face.

-#-

Alec was absolutely knackered. Magnus had made him walk across two huge fields which was bad enough, but with the sweltering heat as well, Alec felt like he would pass out. They were now in the woods, the trees looming over them and managing to thankfully block out most of the heat.

"So where are you taking me?" Alec called out to Magnus who was a few steps ahead of him. He prayed to God that Magnus knew where he was going and knew the way back, because he sure as hell didn't. The trees all looked the same and he was pretty sure they were lost.

"I told you, it's a surprise! But don't worry," Magnus shouted back. "I'm good with directions and remembering things. I know you probably think we're lost, but we're not. You're just going to have to trust me."

Alec wasn't sure if he could trust Magnus but he didn't see any other options. It was either follow Magnus or stay here, alone and lost. He sighed and carried on walking, nearly tripping over some fallen branches.

Finally, he heard Magnus say, "we're here."

He followed him through a little gap in the trees and gasped, his mouth dropping open at the sight in front of him. A big, loud waterfall gushed down into a lake, which led to a gentle stream. It looked completely out of place here, in these small woods in the middle of nowhere. It was truly magnificent and Alec couldn't help himself from laughing happily.

"Wow!" He exclaimed. "How did you find this place? It's amazing."

"I went out for a walk last night and ended up here. I asked my dad about it when I got back and he said it's been here years; used to attract loads of tourists but over time, people just forgot about it. So… Do you like the surprise?"

Alec looked over at Magnus and laughed again, shaking his head in disbelief. "I hate to admit it, but yeah. Well done, Magnus. You're the first person that's ever given me a surprise that I actually like."

Magnus joined in the laughter and said, "good."

Then, he started to take his clothes off.

"Woah, woah, woah. What are you doing?" Alec asked. "Magnus…"

"Well, I said that I'd changed my mind about swimming in the pool. Never said anything about not swimming in the lake," he grinned mischievously. "Get your clothes off, Alec. You're joining me."

"No, I am not," Alec crossed his arms across his chest.

"Don't be so boring! Get your clothes off and jump in, otherwise I'll just have to throw you in and you'll get your clothes drenched, which will make the walk back home very uncomfortable." Magnus was now stripped down to his boxers in front of Alec for the second time in one day. "It's your choice, Alexander."

It was strange, really. Alec didn't feel unconfident with his body at all, even though just over an hour ago he had been scared of the thought of getting half naked in front of the others. Maybe it was because there was only one other person here, or maybe it was just because he felt like a different person around Magnus that he felt brave enough to take his clothes off. Whatever it was, he didn't want to think about it right now.

Alec took his clothes off, stripping down to his boxers and trying to ignore Magnus staring at him, forcing himself not to wonder if Magnus was amused or disgusted by the sight of his body. Without looking at the other boy, Alec ran past him and jumped into the lake, gasping for breath when he broke through the surface.

"Oh my god!" He shouted. "That's freezing! Magnus, are you getting on in here or what?"

He watched as Magnus laughed, his face lighting up in euphoria before he took a few steps back, took a run up and jumped into the lake himself.

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**I promise that I'm going to get better at updating. In fact, I'm going to try and write the next chapter later today or tomorrow, yaaaay.  
Thank you so much for the reviews on the previous chapters, I hope you liked this one too :)**

**Again, please leave reviews for this chapter so I know you're still enjoying it. A lot of you have been wondering about the bet & I can promise you that all will be revealed eventually, but I don't think it'll be until a later chapter.  
**

**Charlotte xo  
**


	6. Chapter 5

_Jesus Christ, he wasn't kidding when he said it was freezing, _Magnus thought to himself as he splashed into the lake and the water hugged tight to his skin. His head broke through the surface and he gasped for air, lifting his hand up to wipe his hair out of his eyes. He looked over at Alec who was a short distance away from him and gulped as he noticed how the water dripped down Alec's face and glued his black hair to his head almost seductively, making him look sexier and more gorgeous than ever. After seeing the perfect outline of Alec's body and his muscles - which weren't as defined as Magnus', but still quite clearly there - and now seeing him dripping wet, Magnus nearly lost control right then. But he told himself he couldn't do that; he _wouldn't_ do that. He wouldn't get attached to Alec, he'd go through with the bet and that was all. Nothing more.

"What?" Magnus asked when he noticed that Alec was staring right back at him, his blue eyes seeming even brighter than usual which should have been impossible.

"I was just thinking about how you must be wearing waterproof make-up because not one bit of it has smudged," Alec giggled. Actually giggled. _How adorable, _Magnus thought to himself, not even trying to tell himself off for having thoughts like that about the other boy. He couldn't stop himself anymore, his mental arguments never worked anymore. No matter how many times he told himself that it would be nothing more, he couldn't deny it now: Magnus had genuine feelings for Alec.

And he knew that would mean this thing would end badly. _Might as well enjoy it while I can then._

"It's magic," he winked. "Race you to the waterfall."

He turned around and started swimming as fast as he could without waiting for Alec's reply. Once he was certain he had a good head start, he turned his head to see if Alec was following… Only to see him swim past him. Sighing in frustration, he continued swimming with even more force, but it was pointless. By the time he got to the waterfall, Alec was already there and Magnus was panting heavily, out of breath.

"Forgot you used to be on the school swim team a few years ago," he managed to get out. "Obviously you've had enough training to be fast."

"You're an idiot," Alec teased, not sounding the slightest bit out of breath.

They swam through the waterfall and into the little cave that was hidden in the rocks just behind it. Instead of climbing up out of the water and onto the rocks in there, Magnus grabbed hold of Alec's waist and pushed him up against the wall of the cave, pressing his own body against Alec's, their faces close but not touching.

"What are you doing?" Alec whispered, his breathing becoming uneven.

"I can't control myself around you anymore, Alexander."

Their eyes locked and Magnus thought about the bet. Not long ago, he had been trying to convince himself that he would go through with it and not feel anything for Alec, but after today, he knew that was impossible. He couldn't go through with the bet, he just knew he couldn't. And if he did do what Ragnor had dared him to - or part of the bet anyway - it would be because he wanted, not because it was part of the bet. He and Alec hadn't been on this holiday for long, but Alec was already a big part in Magnus' life again and he couldn't stand the thought of hurting him.

He'd warned himself not to get too attached but now it was too late.

He leaned in slowly, giving Alec the time to turn his head away, but he didn't. Their lips brushed against each other ever so slightly and just that touch made Magnus' heart skip a beat. His fingers dug into Alec's waist as his hands lifted up to cling onto Magnus' shoulders. Their lips met again, more fervently this time, their tongues battling for dominance as they explored each other's mouths. Alec's arms wrapped around Magnus' neck, his fingers tangling themselves in his hair and pulling his head even closer to him, causing Magnus to moan against Alec's lips. Magnus lifted a hand to cup Alec's cheek, deepening the kiss as he did so.

It felt like the kiss went on forever but as they pulled apart so they could breathe, it felt like it was over too soon. Magnus rested his forehead against Alec's, trailing his fingers along his jaw line. As far as Magnus was aware, Alec was inexperienced but it hadn't seemed like that at all during that amazing kiss.

"We should go back to the house," Alec whispered, breaking the silence. "They're all probably wondering where we've gone off to…""Alexander…" Magnus said, praying that Alec wouldn't go quiet and shy on him now, he didn't want him to take a step back when they'd just had such a perfect moment together.

"Please, Magnus. Let's just get back to the house and then - then we'll talk or something. I have some stuff I have to ask you about before I even start thinking about what we just did," he sighed.

Magnus nodded, pouting his bottom lip slightly. "Let's go then. Hopefully we'll get back before dark, but then again, these woods can be very confusing…"

"Magnus!"

"Just kidding," Magnus laughed. "I know the way back. Just promise me that we _will_ talk and you won't go back to ignoring me?"

"I promise."

* * *

**I know it's short but please don't hate me, you got two updates in one day _and_ a Malec kiss, yays :D**

**Hope you like it! Let me know if it sucks, haha xo  
**


	7. Chapter 6

They didn't talk at all on the way back but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. Magnus wasn't used to not talking to people when he was with them, usually he never shut up, and he liked the change, he liked that things were so easy between him and Alec, so simple. Of course, they were only simple when it was just the two of them…

The rest of both families were either in the swimming pool or sunbathing near the edge of the pool. Magnus noticed Jace's eyes narrowing as he saw the two of them and realised that as long as Jace was around, things wouldn't be easy; they'd be pretty difficult. Magnus despised Jace for taking Alec off him, yes, but he understood why he didn't like Magnus and was protective over Alec. Just because he understood though, didn't mean he liked it.

"There you two are!" Jemima exclaimed when she saw the two of them. "We were starting to think you'd been abducted or something."

"So you decided to sunbathe? Wow, thanks for caring, mum," Magnus said, the sarcasm clear in his voice.

Jemima just tutted and went back to reading her book. Magnus looked down at Alec who gave him a gentle smile - the kind that Magnus had always seen from afar and thought was beautiful - before walking over to where Jace was sat, dangling his feet in the water and tapping away at his phone.

Magnus was a little disappointed that he didn't get to spend anymore time with Alec and have the talk that they so obviously needed to find out what was going to happen between them now that they had kissed. He went and had a shower to kill some time and afterwards, went back into his bedroom, got dressed, and picked his phone up off his bed. He had one missed call from Ragnor and Magnus immediately knew what he would be phoning about. With a sigh, he dialled his friend's number and waited until he picked up.

"Dude! How's the holiday going? The house as boring as you thought it'd be?" Ragnor asked as soon as he answered the phone.

"Surprisingly, it's not that bad actually. The weather's decent too, what's it like in the city?"

"Raining as per usual," Ragnor laughed. "So I thought I'd just phone you and see how things are going. How's Alec?" Magnus could hear the teasing tone in Ragnor's voice and could just visualize him waggling his eyebrows with a knowing grin on his face.

"He's fine," Magnus replied nonchalantly, wishing that Ragnor would change the subject. "How are you?"

"Don't ask about me! Dude, have you gone through with it yet? Remember, you do it and that £200 is yours. I would love to keep my money, yeah, but this will be the highlight of the year, nobody will ever forget it! Please tell you've done it, I'm begging you."

"Not just yet… But I will, don't you worry about that," he lied. "I'm waiting until the last few days to go through with it, just in time for when we go back to school."

"Brilliant," Ragnor laughed.

They talked for another ten minutes or so about random crap, until there was a knock on Magnus' bedroom door. They said a quick goodbye to each other, Ragnor wished Magnus good luck with the bet, and Magnus threw his phone back onto his bed before answering the door.

Alec stood there, looking agitated and worked up, a grim expression on his face. "What's wrong?" Magnus asked.

"Just… Can I come in? I need to talk to you," Alec said, his voice making him sound stressed out.

"Sure," Magnus stood back so he could walk into the room and closed the door behind him. "So, what is it?" He leant his back against the door, folding his arms across his chest.

Alec looked up from the floor and at Magnus, his blue eyes practically shining. "At school, all these years, your friends have bullied me. They've called me names, pushed me around, made my life hell just because I'm not popular like they are. And you just sat there and let it happen. I hated you more than them because you never stuck up for me, even though we used to be best friends. And Ragnor's the worst of them, but yet you're still best friends with him! Jace seems to think that you're just using me because none of your friends are here, he thinks you'll go back to ignoring me as soon as we go back home. What am I to you, Magnus? Just a stand-in friend, someone you don't care about at all?"

Magnus shook his head and quickly said, "no! These past few days with you have been amazing, Alexander. Jace knows nothing, okay? He's always disliked me, of course he's going to try and get between us!"

"He dislikes you because you let your friends treat me like they have done!" Alec shouted. "I don't want us to fall out again, I like the way things have been going, but we need to talk about this otherwise it'll drive me crazy. I don't care what Jace says, he can't stop me from being friends with you, he'll get over it eventually. But he's right about this, Magnus. How do I know you're really a good guy when you let your friends say that sort of stuff to me?"

"I'm sorry," Magnus said quietly, knowing that Alec was right. "I'm sorry for everything, Alec. Truth is, I wanted to stop them from saying them things to you. We weren't friends anymore and a part of me hated you because when I was younger, it seemed like you chose Jace over me. Now that I'm older I can see how stupid that was - he was your brother, of course you were going to spend time with him. I always watched you around school and missed the times we had together. I love being popular, it was all I used to care about. Now, not so much, but I don't want to be unpopular. I couldn't bare being one of the people bullying you and I wanted to stop them, but I was scared they'd laugh in my face and make me unpopular. I know that makes me sound like a dick - I admit, at school I was a total dick to everybody. I acted like I was better than everybody and I used people because I was too scared of getting attached and trusting people… But you're the exception, Alec. I'm not scared of getting too close to you because I'll know you'll never break my heart or hurt me in any way. I've loved getting to know you as a friend again and honestly, when we kissed, it was the best feeling ever, I've never experienced anything like that before. Please don't hate me, I couldn't stand that."

Magnus couldn't remember the last time he had made such a long, truthful speech without one lie in it at all, but there it was. And he wasn't terrified of being honest and being himself in front of Alec, he never wanted to be the opposite in front of him again. How on Earth his life could change in just a few short days, he didn't know, but he knew that he liked the change and didn't want to go back to how things used to be.

Alec didn't answer at first. He just stared at Magnus, his face not giving any sign of what he was thinking; it was emotionless. The silence grew tense and Magnus was preparing himself for Alec telling him to get lost and stay out of his life from now on, he was expecting Alec to leave him just like he expected everybody else to all the time… But Alec surprised Magnus.

"You've got one chance, Magnus." Alec spoke with finality but behind his words, Magnus could sense happiness. "If we go back to school and you turn back into a dick, that's it; I'll want nothing to do with you. I'm trusting you, don't let me down."

"I won't," Magnus shook his head. "I promise you, I won't."

He walked over to Alec, grabbed hold of him and kissed him, showing Alec in that gesture just how much he meant to him and how much he wanted to be with him.

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**Just a little note to say thank you for reviewing and/or adding this story to your favourites/alerts list. I honestly never imagined my story would get such positive feedback, it means so much to me that you're liking it :) xo**


	8. A note

**Just a little note to say that I should be updating within the next few days hopefully.  
Also, I've seen a few comments about how Alec was a little too forgiving & how it may be moving a little too fast** **so I wanted to say that there will be a lot more drama & there's still a part of Alec that hasn't forgiven Magnus for not stopping the bullying, you'll get to see that part of him fairly soon. And I'm sorry if it seems like it's moving too fast but not all of the story is about them on this holiday, the main bits will be when they're back at school because I have more things in idea for them then.**

**Ps.** **You'll find out what the bet is in about 2/3 chapters away :) xo**


	9. Chapter 7

**Thank you for the reviews, I love getting feedback.  
**_MyChemicalBitchBot_** and** _SecretlyANinja98_: **I didn't think your feedback was mean at all, don't worry. I took it as constructive criticism ****because now I can develop on how I may have moved things just a little too quickly, and you helped me think of more ideas to add to the storyline, so thank you!** **I appreciate all kinds of feedback :)**

**Btw, I was just re-reading the first chapter & I noticed Maia saying the bet was between Magnus and Sebastian, not Ragnor. I apologize for my mistake, I was supposed to write Ragnor because Sebastian's being introduced later on in the story (oooh, spoiler)  
**

**Anyway, sorry for the long note. I hope you like this chapter! :) I'm off to read CoLS; I'm up to chapter 17 and my emotions are everywhere already, wahhhhh. xo  
**

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Maia wanted her brother to be happy. After he first had his heart broken, she watched as he dated a different boy or girl every few weeks, never having enough interest to stay with any of them longer than that. It was clear to her that the only person he completely and absolutely trusted was her; his little sister. With Maia being only a year younger than Magnus, they were close siblings.

Growing up, she got used to seeing Alec with Magnus all the time and didn't mind that much. When he and Alec began growing apart, she was the only one who saw the change in him - his parents thought he was just growing up and becoming his own person, they didn't see how miserable he was. She used to see Magnus watching Alec at school sometimes, just little glances that nobody else saw, and she could tell that he missed him, even if he wouldn't admit it.

At times, she didn't like Magnus very much. Those times were always the times he was around his friends, focusing more on staying within their little group than being a nice person. Of course, when he wasn't around them, he was her loving brother again.

When her parents told her they were going on this little holiday, she hadn't personally been very fond of the idea, she would have much preferred to actually leave the country for a holiday. But when she found out the Lightwood's would be there, she started to warm up to the idea. She was friends with Isabelle so she knew she wouldn't be lonely there, and she was thrilled at the idea that maybe Magnus and Alec could become friends again. Maybe Magnus would always be happy then, instead of having a sad expression on his face whenever he thought nobody was looking, if he had his old best friend back in his life.

On the last day of that school term, she had searched for her big brother at lunchtime to ask if he could give her a lift home when school finished seeing as it was due to rain and she didn't want to walk home in that weather. She knew that he would say yes, he always did - Magnus adored his little sister and looked after her well, treated her like some sort of a princess.

She'd found him stood by his locker with his friend Ragnor, the rest of the corridor being empty as most students were either outside or in the canteen. "Are you kidding? Alec Lightwood's family?" She heard Ragnor say, stopping her in her steps. She knew that eavesdropping was rude, but she couldn't help herself from listening to the conversation they were having. She was disgusted with Ragnor over the dare he gave Magnus, and even more disgusted when he bet £200 that Magnus wouldn't end up doing it. She was absolutely horrified when Magnus laughed and agreed with the bet. She knew that Magnus didn't want to lose his popularity but to do that to Alec just so he wouldn't lose Ragnor's respect… It was unspeakable and she was appalled by Magnus' behaviour.

She'd confronted him about the bet in the car, where he couldn't escape from her and had no choice but to answer her. "Maia, just stay out of it," Magnus had said, followed by a long sigh. "I'm sorry, but please, I don't want to talk about it. You know what Ragnor's like, he's always looking for something funny to do."

"And he finds daring you to do that _funny_?" She had exclaimed. "It's just plain mean, Magnus! Please tell me you're not going to actually go through with it."

"I don't know what I'm going to do," he answered. "But like I said, stay out of it. It's nothing to do with you."

Back in the present, Maia was thinking about how it actually had quite a lot to do with her. She would have to see it happen and live with the fact that she knew about it and could have stopped it from happening; she was friends with Alec's sister and she knew Isabelle wouldn't like to see that happen to her brother; but most all, she knew that Magnus would despise himself for doing it afterwards, and she'd have to be the one to try and take his mind off it, to pick up the pieces.

She couldn't take it anymore; she needed to talk to somebody about it. She left the others by the pool and went into her bedroom, making a phone call to her boyfriend. She told him everything and asked him what she should do about it.

"Well I agree with you that it _is_ your business," Jordan's deep voice came through the speaker phone, "but I also agree with Magnus that you should stay out of it and not get involved."

"I can't just sit back and let it happen!" Maia protested. "Magnus and Alec disappeared for half of the day today, they seemed really happy when they got back. Clearly, they're starting to become friends again. Maybe more than friends, I don't know, I'm not sure about Alec's sexuality. If Magnus _was_ going to go through with the bet, getting close to Alec would be the first step."

"Maia… Look, here's what I think you should do: just leave them be for a few days. Try and talk to Magnus in a few days, when your head's a little clearer, and ask him for a straight answer whether he's going through with it or not. If he is, then tell Alec because he deserves to know."

"Since when did you become the wise one?" She asked with a shaky laugh. "Ok, ok, I'll do that. And what do I do if Magnus still refuses to give me a straight answer?"

"You tell Alec the whole truth about the bet, just in case."

-#-

Alec and Magnus had stayed in Magnus' room for an hour or so, just kissing, talking and laughing together, but having to go downstairs when Alec saw that it was around time to start cooking tea. Magnus followed him into the kitchen, sitting at the bar stool as Alec started cutting up different vegetables.

Alec could feel Magnus' eyes on him the whole time, and blushed at having the attention focused on him. "Stop staring at me," he said without looking up. "You're starting to freak me out."

"Sorry," Magnus laughed. "So, what are we having to eat today?"

"Chicken, Yorkshire pudding and vegetables," Alec said with a shrug. "It's easy to make. Anyway, I was wondering, do you still have that horrible cat that hisses at everything?"

"Chairman Meow is _not_ horrible!" Magnus exclaimed, sounding offended. Alec looked up at him and smirked when he saw the frown on the other boy's face. "It was just you that he didn't like. Why do you ask?"

"We have a cat now, he's called Church. You once told me that I would never find a cat as amazing as Chairman Meow, and now I have," he taunted. "I swear, it's like Church is a person at times with the way he acts and looks at me, it's freaky but cool."

"No cat is better than the Chairman," Magnus was shaking his head. "When we get back, you'll have to come to mine and see how great my cat still is. You'll quickly apologize for ever thinking Church was better than him."

Alec laughed, stopping short as Jace entered the kitchen, saw the two of them and frowned.

"Something the matter, Jace?" Magnus asked politely, a fake smile on his face.

Jace glared at him and said, "I'm watching you."

"Really? I'm afraid you're not really my type," Magnus answered. "And I thought you had a mysterious new girlfriend?"

"You know that's not what I meant," he snapped. "I'm not stupid, Magnus. I've seen you at school, I know what type of guy you are; everyone does. I don't know why you're suddenly interested in being Alec's friend again considering you haven't cared at all for years, and he might trust you, but I don't." He grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl before moving back towards the door. "I'll figure out what you're up to."

"I'm not up to anything," Magnus said simply.

"Yeah, right," Jace scoffed and left the room.

Magnus turned back to Alec, his eyes shining in the light and a cocky grin on his face. "Your brother has issues, Alexander. He's making a big deal out of nothing."

_It's not exactly nothing. He's just looking out for me unlike you have all these years,_ Alec wanted to say, but held it back because he really did want to have a new start with Magnus and not constantly dwell on the past. Instead, he smiled at Magnus and rolled his eyes, before looking back down at the chopping board to avoid having to answer.


	10. Chapter 8

**I finished reading CoLS and am officially heartbroken :( **

**Anyway, I think is the longest chapter I've wrote for this story, woo. Hope you like it, please leave reviews! xo  
**

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A few days passed and the weather changed drastically from red hot sunshine to endless, miserable rain. The two families had to stay cooped up in the house, entertaining themselves by watching TV, reading books, playing board games and unfortunately having to listen to the adults telling long stories of when they were younger.

Magnus and Alec spent a lot of time together, although not as much as Magnus could have hoped for. Alec obviously wanted to spend time with his brothers and sister, and Magnus understood that because he himself had a close relationship with his sister. But little things that Alec did without realising started to irritate Magnus. And most of those little things had to do with Jace. Magnus had already come to the conclusion that Alec had feelings for Jace, but he'd convinced himself that now there was something between him and Alec, Alec might have started to lose his feelings for Jace and get over them. But clearly that was not the case. Magnus had to watch as Alec gave Jace sidelong glances that portrayed his love for him; he watched as Alec chose to spend time with Jace if he had to choose between them; he watched as he looked jealous whenever Jace talked about some Clary girl.

Magnus tried not to dwell on these little things though, told himself that he shouldn't expect Alec to just fall out of love with Jace so easily; he knew what it was like to not be able to get over someone you loved, he never got over his first boyfriend even though the guy had broke his heart. But it was so hard not to think about it! He didn't understand why he felt so strongly for Alec so quickly considering he hadn't felt this way about anybody in so long, and he didn't know what exactly was going on between him and Alec - they'd obviously kissed quite a number of times and they knew how the other felt, but they didn't exactly state whether they were actually dating - but he wanted Alec all to himself and he hated that it felt like he was having to fight for his attention.

When they were together and Jace wasn't around however, things were perfect between them. They talked about old times and random things they liked nowadays, they laughed and, when other people weren't around, they made out and it felt magical; Magnus got butterflies in his stomach, something he had never experienced before.

Today, Magnus had spent the morning watching Disney movies with Max and although he acted like he hated them, he'd secretly found them sweet and had liked them. He then wandered around the house until he found Alec who was unsurprisingly alone in the library, reading A Tale Of Two Cities. Personally, Magnus wasn't one for reading books for pleasure, but he liked that Alec still had the same hobby he'd had ever since he learnt how to read. Magnus had wanted to make out but Alec was too immersed in the book and said that he simply wanted to relax and read for a little bit. Magnus had sighed dramatically but hadn't pushed him. He was now currently lain on the sofa with his head on Alec's lap and his eyes closed, randomly playing with the tassels of his blue scarf. The scarf wasn't one of his favourites but he was hoping that Alec would notice how he picked the scarf because it matched the blue of Alec's eyes (although Alec's eyes were a Mediterranean blue that glittered, the scarf barely did them justice really), but he knew it was a wasted effort because Alec noticed next to nothing about fashion.

"Alec…" Magnus said, keeping his eyes closed, feeling relaxed and content.

"Mmm?" Was the mumbled reply. Alec was still probably lost in the book, Magnus thought.

"_Please_ will you let me give you a makeover some day?" He begged. "I'm not saying that I want to change you, but you dress so… Well, boring and plain. You have no idea how good-looking you are, seriously. If you dressed a little bit more fashionable, you would be beyond perfect, you'd have people throwing themselves at you. I could help you get some new clothes, tight jeans would be wonderful on you, add some make-up and glitter and: voilá! The same amazing Alexander Lightwood, just far more fashionable and fabulous."

Alec laughed and Magnus felt the vibrations of the laugh run through Alec's body, and had to smile himself. "I like the way I dress," Alec said. "I'm comfortable. And if I were to ever change my style - which I don't plan on anytime soon - I wouldn't let you be the one to give me a makeover. Besides, if you think I'd look so _fabulous_ with a change of style, wouldn't you feel jealous of me looking better than you?"

Magnus opened his eyes to see Alec gazing down at him, a smile tugging at his lips and the book now out of his hands. "Nobody will ever look better than me," Magnus said and rolled his eyes. "But you would sure come close. Anyway, moving onto a different subject - although I haven't forgotten this one and _will_ give you a makeover one day - I was wondering… Other than me, does anybody know that you're gay?"

Alec blushed bright red, his breathing hitched and his jaw flexed; Magnus got the feeling this wasn't something Alec liked to talk about. "Not exactly," he said slowly. "I accidentally let slip to Izzy that I wasn't interested in girls, but I changed the topic of conversation quickly after. I don't know if she's figured out I'm gay or if she just thinks I'm one of them people who are never attracted to anybody at all. None of the others know anything, though."

"How come?" Magnus asked curiously. "I know it seems scary to tell people that you're gay - it was for me, although I pretended it was no big deal - but honestly, it's so much easier once everything is out in the open."

Alec sighed and said, "I don't know… I guess it _is_ that I'm scared, but I can't get over the fear easily. My parents, well they're good people, but think everything's black and white, right or wrong; I don't think they'll ever accept it. And Jace… Well, he's always trying to set me up on dates with girls and I think he just won't understand, I don't want him treating me any differently. I know I can't keep it a secret forever, I'm just not ready for people to know yet."

"Yeah, I get it," Magnus said gently. "I don't want to push you into telling people, everyone has the right time for them. But just so you know, I'll be there to support you when you do tell people."

"Thank you," Alec said, sounding a little taken-aback. He moved his hand to trail his fingers along Magnus' jawline. "That means a lot to me."

Magnus leaned his head into the hand and smiled as he said, "I'm glad so, darling."

He tilted his head back up as Alec began to lean down and Magnus readied himself for the kiss, dying to feel the softness of Alec's lips against his own, couldn't wait for the passion and the butterflies… Then the library door opened and Alec shot back up into a sitting position, his back straight and his cheeks blushing furiously.

Magnus groaned, annoyed that he had missed the chance to kiss Alec. He turned his head to angrily shout at whoever had interrupted them, but stopped when he saw that it was just Maia. He smiled and as he sat up, he said, "don't freak, Alec. Maia knows about us, she won't say anything. Will you, princess?"

Maia smiled at her brother, just like she always did whenever he called her princess, which he'd been doing ever since she was born basically. "Of course I won't, your secret's safe with me," she said in her melodic voice. "Magnus, I was just wondering if I could talk to you." Her eyes flitted towards Alec, before settling back on Magnus. "In private."

"I'll leave," Alec said, standing up quickly. "I'll go and see what Jace is up to or something."

Magnus opened his mouth to protest, to tell him that he didn't have to leave, he'd only be talking to Maia for a minute or so probably, but Alec was already rushing out of the room. Magnus stood up and flashed Maia his best, sibling love smile. "What's up?"

Maia spoke quickly, her words blurring together. If it was anybody else she was talking to, they wouldn't understood her, but Magnus was used to his sister's babbling and had grown to be able to understand every word she said. "I know you told me not to get involved because it's nothing to do with me - something I totally disagree with, by the way - but I can't stop thinking about the bet between you and Ragnor. I can't help but notice that you and Alec are _clearly_ getting really close again which I want to feel happy about because I know how much you missed having him around all these years, but I can't be one hundred percent happy for you, because of this damn bet! It's driving me crazy!"

Magnus walked over to his sister and put his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes as he took a deep breath and said, "Maia. Breathe. Okay look, maybe the bet does kind of involve you because you know about it now, but seriously, just put it to the back of your mind and try to forget about it. That's what I'm doing, so please just calm down and stop thinking about it before you really do go insane."

"So you're not going to go through with it?" She asked quietly, her eyes full of hope. "Because I know that it's horrid, but well, you did it before to that Sebastian kid and you seemed to really regret it afterwards. If you do the same to Alec, I just know that you're going to hate yourself so much afterwards."

"Forget about the bet; don't get involved. I'll be honest, Maia. I genuinely like Alec and I'm really happy with him, please don't ruin that for me."

"But… Just give me a straight answer, Magnus: Are you going to go through with the bet?" She spoke slowly and clearly.

Magnus sighed and let go of her. "Forget about it," he repeated. "I love you, Maia, but I don't want to have to explain myself to you all the time. Don't drive yourself crazy over this. Now, are we done? Because I promised Mum I'd go into the village with her to do some shopping."

A look of pain flashed across Maia's face and she nodded once. "Okay," she said. "And Magnus… I'm sorry."

"For what?"

She didn't answer, just gave him a little sad smile and left him stood there alone, confused.


	11. Chapter 9

**Thank you for the reviews, you have no idea how much it means to me! They inspire me to write more :)**

**So, here it is. The chapter where you finally find out what the bet it is (read the note at the end of the chapter if you want to know why I chose that to be the bet)  
**

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Maia had wished and prayed to a God she didn't believe in that Magnus would assure her that he wasn't going to go through with the bet. She loved her brother and there wasn't anything she wouldn't forgive him for, she'd always stick by his side, but she hated the person he was around those stupid friends he had. The same bet had happened before and after the disastrous consequences of that, she wasn't going to sit by and watch as history repeated itself.

When she left Magnus alone in the library, she had been apologizing for what was to come, apologizing for what she was about to do… Which was to tell Alec the truth. She went straight to the room Alec was staying in and forced herself to knock on the door. She didn't want to do this at all, she didn't want to ruin their happiness, but she wasn't sure if Magnus was just faking his happiness like he had done plenty of other times before. Alec didn't deserve to be hurt as much as he would be if Magnus went through with the bet.

The door opened in front of her and she gulped down her despair, reminding herself yet again that this was the right thing to do.

-#-

Alec hadn't actually bothered to look for Jace after leaving Magnus and Maia alone. He knew that Jace was probably texting Clary - he seemed completely obsessed with her - or watching TV somewhere, so he'd gone back to his room and started reading a new book. When he opened his door, he was expecting Magnus to be there, not Maia.

She looked absolutely morbid as she sighed and said, "hey, Alec. Can I talk to you? It's uhm, it's quite important."

"Okay…" He said slowly, letting her into the room and closing the door behind her. They stood facing each other in an awkward silence for a few long minutes, Alec waiting for Maia to speak and Maia looking like she wanted nothing more than to leave the room and not have this conversation. Alec ran his hands through his hair and finally asked, "so, what's up?"

"Okay, before I tell you, please keep in mind that I didn't want to tell you this. I wish I didn't have to but you deserve to know the truth and I'm so sorry you're having to hear this," she replied, her words coming out in a rush and her eyes looking more frantic by the second.

"Maia, whatever it is, just tell me, I can handle it."

"Okay," she sighed sadly and hesitated a moment as she thought of what to say. "Right, do you remember a few months ago when that boy called Sebastian Morgenstern left school? Do you remember why he left?"

"Yeah," Alec nodded, "everyone knew about Sebastian." That much was true, even the teachers at school knew about Sebastian. Sebastian had started dating Magnus despite Magnus' reputation of being a player and never having long-term relationships. After two weeks, Magnus completely embarrassed Sebastian by breaking up with him in front of basically the entire school and telling him that he was too clingy and a terrible boyfriend. Just a few days later, photos of Sebastian naked went all over school. People laughed in Sebastian's face, bullied him endlessly, and although nobody had any proof, they all knew that Magnus had something to do with the photos. In the following week, as people bullied Sebastian, Alec watched Magnus and saw how sorry he looked, although he'd still hated him for doing such a terrible thing and never even apologizing. In the end, Sebastian had left school to escape it all and nobody had heard from him since.

"Alec, just please don't hate me for telling you this," Maia begged. "On the last day of school I heard Ragnor and Magnus talking. Ragnor bet Magnus £200 that he couldn't do to you what he did to Sebastian - but of course, Ragnor wants him to go through with it even though it'll mean he loses money. Ragnor's a dick, he likes seeing people get hurt, he finds it funny. Magnus agreed to do the bet, but then when I confronted him about it, he said that he wasn't sure whether he was going to go through with it. And he still won't give me a straight answer over whether or not he's going through with it so I needed to tell you because you deserve to know and it was driving me crazy." She let out a long breath, having not breathed the entire time she was speaking.

"Wait, hold on," Alec held up his hand to stop her from speaking, the rest of his body frozen in shock and disbelief. "Magnus was planning on getting me to trust him and start dating him, and probably have sex with him… Then he was going to break up with me in front of a ton of people at school… Then he was going to send out naked photos of me which he probably would have took after we slept together, maybe even when I was asleep and unaware of him taking the photos… _All for two hundred pounds? _Why would he do that?"

"Because Ragnor can get him to do anything and Magnus wants to stay popular," Maia said quietly, looking defeated. "I think he genuinely likes you, Alec. Deep down, I'm not sure not he would have gone through with it if I hadn't told you. But he wouldn't give me a straight answer so I wasn't one percent sure what he was going to do… I'm so sorry, Alec."

"Don't be sorry," Alec shook his head, having to force the words out; there was so much going on in his mind, but Maia wasn't the person he needed to say them to. Magnus was. "It's not your fault. Thank you for telling me, Maia; I know it must hurt you because he's your brother." He walked towards the door and swung the door open again.

"Where are you going?" Maia blurted out.

"To talk to Magnus."

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**Ok, so I'm kind of expecting people to not like the bet so this is just an explanation of why I chose that... Alec hasn't told anybody about him being gay (other than Magnus, of course) and he's obviously not very comfortable with people knowing about his sexuality yet. So if Magnus broke up with him in front of the school, people would find out Alec was gay. Also, Alec is self-conscious with the way he looks and isn't confident at all, hence why the naked photos would be bad. And it'd make Alec the center of attention which we all know he hates.  
So yeah. If all that actually happened, it would obviously have a very negative effect on Alec.**  
**I know it's not exactly really realistic, that doesn't happen much in real life, but it's a story, you've gotta have some made up parts, haha.**

**Another thing.. This is set in England because that's where I'm from & in this Malec are in their second year of sixth form, so they're 17/18 years old.  
Oh and Sebastian and Clary aren't related in this.  
**

**Please leave reviews, got lots of drama coming up soon for you! xo  
**


	12. Chapter 10

**Wow, you actually have NO idea how much reviews mean to me. Like seriously, I'm not very confident with my writing but to hear you all say such lovely things makes me start to believe in myself more so hopefully my writing will start getting better as I get more confident :D**

**Oh and just so you all know, I plan for a lot of Malec hurting and drama in this fanfic (there will be happy times as well of course, but to get there they have to go through LOADS of drama). Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you read the chapter! **

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Magnus ran his fingers gently over the spines of a row of books as if they would crumble under his touch; he was looking at the books in the library and thought it rather sad that they were left here to get dusty until the Lightwood family came to spend time here. The house had originally belonged to Alec's great grandfather and had remained in the family ever since - a fact Robert liked to tell people whenever he got the chance. Magnus didn't read books but he understood that people get lost in another world in them and he thought all books deserved to be treated with care and actually be read. Why have all these books if there were only people there to read them a few times a year? It just made no sense.

Maia's words still rang in his mind and he kept speculating what she had been apologizing for. If anything, he should be the one apologizing for acting like a dick the majority of the time; she had left him more confused than he had been in a long time. He wanted to go and find Alec and have that kiss Maia had caused him to miss out on, but just as he was about to leave the library, Alec walked in with his head down and his shoulders drooped, closing the door behind him.

"Alexander," Magnus smiled at the sight of the other boy being close to him again. He walked over to Alec and put his fingers under his chin, lifting his head so he could look into those baby blue eyes that he loved so much. His smile faded when he saw that they were brimming with tears; Magnus' heart lurched at the sight; he didn't like seeing such gorgeous eyes looking so sad. "What's the matter, baby?"

Alec looked Magnus straight in the eyes as he spoke, his words coming out pained and quiet. "Maia told me. About the bet. She told me everything, Magnus."

Magnus dropped his hand, his mouth dropping open in shock. _She was apologizing for the fact she was going to tell Alec_, he thought. If it was anybody else, Magnus would have been furious, but Maia was his little sister and he knew everything about her so he knew that she never would have told Alec without good intentions. Besides, it wasn't her fault that Magnus' best friend brought out the worst side in him.

"Oh, look at that. Magnus Bane; finally speechless," Alec laughed bitterly, his eyes looking wild now. Magnus vaguely remembered that he always used to be scared of Alec when he got angry because it was like he became a completely different person: he changed from a cute adorable little kitten, to a fierce loud lion. "How could you do that, Magnus? How could you agree to do such a horrid thing to me?"

"I'm sorry," Magnus mumbled, his own eyes now filling with tears, his breathing now shaky. He felt like he was detached from his own body, watching the scene play out before him.

"YOU'RE _SORRY_?" Alec shouted, shoving Magnus away from him. "That's all you have to say? It was bad enough that you did it to that Sebastian guy but everybody could see how much you regretted it afterwards, even I could although I hated you at the time. I thought that maybe, maybe you would have changed. And you were planning on doing that all over again, to _me_ this time?"

"Alec, please. Just listen-"

"No, _you_ listen, Magnus! Do you know how hard it has been for me to be with you?" His voice lowered to his normal volume, his chest breathing heavily and endless tears streaking his face. "I've never been with a guy before, I've never even told anybody that I'm gay. Being with you was a big step for me, do you any idea how much I had to battle with my shyness to be able to kiss you and not feel bad about it? Magnus, I forgot about everything you did at school - how you bullied other people, used them, never defended me when your friends said shit to me - and I believed that you were a better person. I thought that you could change, be nicer… But this whole time you've been faking your feelings for me so you could win a fucking bet! I have never, in my entire life, felt so betrayed. I'm just… So disappointed in you."

Magnus let out a strangled, emotional gasp and moved forward, clutching Alec's face in both of his hands. He planted a kiss on Alec's forehead, giving him the strength to speak. "No, Alec. _No_. Please don't say that. Don't let this destroy what we have - I know our relationship is only just barely starting out but I love what we have, you're so special to me. Yes, I'll admit that I agreed to go through with the bet, mainly just because I didn't want Ragnor to think any less of me and I wanted to stay popular. And at first, I was only trying to get close to you because of the bet. But then… Then I realised how perfect you are to me, even with all your fears and flaws. And you accepted me for who I truly am… I decided not to go through with the bet. Everything between us has been genuine, Alexander. I wouldn't dare do anything like that to you. Never. Just give me another chance, okay? I'll make it up to you, I swear. I won't keep anything from you ever again."

Alec stepped back and shook his head defiantly, looking at Magnus with a hateful expression that made Magnus feel even more depressed than seconds before. "I told you," Alec said, "that I was only going to give you one chance. I just didn't expect you to ruin it so quickly. Whatever we had between us, it's over. I trusted you with the biggest secret of my life, I let you see past the walls I always keep up around me."

"Alec, I wasn't going to go through with it!" Magnus persisted, grabbing hold of Alec's arm.

"I don't know if I can trust you!" Alec pulled out of Magnus' grip and moved towards the door. "You've hurt me at school all these years… So how do I know if you actually have changed or not? You haven't done anything to show me I can trust you, so just leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you the rest time of we're here. And when we go back to school, let's just pretend none of this ever happened. Just go back to how we used to be."

And for the second time that day, a person walked out of the library, leaving Magnus alone. The only difference was that this time it was Alec and instead of only feeling confused, his emotions were flying around everywhere and he couldn't even describe how bad he felt.


	13. Chapter 11

_Two seven year old boys ran through the house; one had messy black hair and bright blue eyes that looked odd with his pale skin and was a head shorter than the other boy with dark spiky hair and strange green-yellow eyes. The boys were in fits of giggles as they threw a tennis ball back and forth between them, the main point of the game being not to let the ball fall to the floor._

"_Catch it, Magnus!" The smaller boy shouted when the other one looked away as the ball went flying towards him._

_Magnus held his hands out to catch the ball but ducked when it came at his head… SMASH! Both boys fell into complete silence, staring at the beautiful glass vase that had just smashed. Alec looked around wildly, praying that his mother wasn't somewhere in the house that would ensure she heard the smash. He couldn't hear her coming rushing to see what the commotion was, but it wouldn't have been the first time she scared Alec by moving silently._

"_She's going to kill us!" Alec whispered loudly in horror to his best friend._

_Magnus ran over to Alec and took hold of his hand, pulling him out of the living room. "We'll hide," he said in an excited tone. "She can't kill us if she can't find us!"_

_The boys tried to stifle their giggles as they squeezed into the cupboard under the stairs; it was small, but the boys themselves were too so they managed to fit in with a little wiggle room to spare. Their was no light bulb in here but they could make out each other's faces from the light in the hallway that seeped through the cracks of the door._

"_We'll stay here forever and ever," Magnus said solemnly. "We don't need adults, we can look after ourselves. We'll look after each other."_

_Alec nodded and grinned at his best friend, dimples appearing in his cheeks. "Yeah, 'cause that's what best friends do! Always look after each other, no matter what."_

_Magnus nodded in enthusiastic agreement, grinning himself. "Can we please always be best friends, Alec? Please."_

"_Okay," he replied. He lifted his arm up, pointing his pinky finger out; Magnus linked his own little finger with Alec's. "Pinky promise we'll be best friends forever."_

"_Forever," Magnus repeated._

_They stayed hidden in the cupboard for the rest of the day, telling each other adventure stories they made up themselves and trying to ignore the rumbles of their bellies telling them they were hungry. Although it was a simple day where they didn't do much, it was a day that none of them would forget over the years. When the young boys heard Mayrse calling their names, they tried to stay as quiet as they could, pretending it was all one big game. Mayrse had found it so adorable and funny that they'd been cooped up in there all day that her anger over the smashed vase faded away completely._

_Later that night, when the boys were laid in their beds in the darkness, trying to get to sleep, Magnus gently whispered, "don't forget about the pinky promise, Alec. Pinky promises are forever, my mummy told me."_

"_I won't if you don't," Alec replied simply._

Magnus sighed at the memory, wishing that he could rewind time. If he could, he would never have gotten jealous of Jace, he would never have bothered with being popular, and he and Alec would have both kept that pinky promise and their friendship may even have developed into a relationship over time, which none of them would have messed up. But he couldn't rewind time and this was just the way his life was now and he had to deal with the consequences of his mistakes.

After Alec left Magnus alone yesterday, Magnus spent an hour or so pacing back and forth in the library, going from feeling sad to angry over and over again. Then he'd took advantage of the room he was in and picked a book randomly off the shelf, hoping that if he read a book properly for the first time in years, it would make him get lost in another world and take his thoughts off Alec. He looked at the book he'd picked up and dropped it to the floor as if it was on fire: it was A Tale Of Two Cities, the book Alec had been reading yesterday. Not bothering to pick it back up, he grabbed another book and spent the next few hours using a book as medicine for his self-hatred.

He didn't sleep much that night. Now, he was sat at the table eating breakfast next to Isabelle, eyes flicking up to the door every time somebody new entered, and always sighing when he saw that it wasn't Alec. When Alec finally did walk in, Magnus was struck cold by how bad he looked. Alec's eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed as if he'd spent the whole night crying, and his hair was sticking up in every direction; normally Magnus would have said that Alec's hair like that looked quiet adorable but like that, but he couldn't bring himself to think that this morning.

"Morning Alec," Magnus said, trying to keep the hope that Alec might run into his arms and forgive him out of his voice.

Alec looked over at Magnus, and that's when he saw it again. The hateful glare. Magnus knew that he had done his fair share of horrible things in his life but this week Alec had made him realize that he didn't have to be that person to be happy, and Magnus genuinely wanted to change. Thinking back to how he hurt other people, Magnus hated himself for it. But that self-hatred was nothing compared to the self-hatred he had for hurting Alec. Alec looked away from Magnus and walked over to Jace, talking in quiet whispers with him. Magnus watched as Jace nodded, a small frown on his face, and the two of them left the room.

"What's that about?" Isabelle asked Magnus. "Alec ignoring you, I mean. And the whole private conversation with Jace just then."

Magnus just shrugged and said, "Alec hates me."

Isabelle frowned for a moment before dropping her toast back onto her plate, pushing her chair back and rushing out of the kitchen after her brothers. Magnus left the kitchen too, but went straight up to his bedroom too. And then he lost control of his emotions. He screamed out angrily - angry at himself for being such an idiot that he had led Alec to actually hate him with every fibre in his body - and started throwing his things around the room.

Magnus wasn't in love with Alec just yet, so he wasn't heartbroken; but he had had strong feelings for the blue-eyed boy and felt like he had lost an important part of his life. He was also upset with the realization of just how much he had let himself change over the years and made so many mistakes that he didn't think he'd ever be able to make up for.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and spun around, his make-up now in lines down his cheeks from his tears, and with this person near him, he didn't feel angry anymore. Just very, very upset. "Maia," he said in a broken, detached voice. His little sister wrapped her arms around him, and he held onto her tightly and buried his face in the crook of her neck as he cried some more.

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**Wow, 73 reviews, that makes me so happy! Thank you so much to everybody reading & reviewing, I hope this chapter isn't a letdown :-)**

_SecretlyANinja98_: **I'm glad you think that! I wanted it to be different to the usual 'Alec feels heartbroken and alone, and doesn't defend himself' stuff. So yeah, thankyou! xo**


	14. Chapter 12

Jace and Isabelle sat down on Alec's bed as he paced back and forth awkwardly, trying to work up the courage for what he was about to tell them. "So, what's going on then?" Isabelle asked.

"Alec said he wanted to talk to me," Jace shrugged. "Don't know what it's about… Alec, stop pacing, you're making me dizzy. What's going on?"

Alec abruptly stopped and spun to face them directly, taking a deep breath before saying, "I have a secret. And I've kept it a secret for so long now because I've been afraid what you'd all think, but last night I was thinking, and I realized that I need you two in my life because you keep me sane and keep me from falling apart. I know that I'm the more mature one out of us three, we can all admit that, but I do turn you two when I need help or just somebody to take my mind off things. So, I know that I have to be honest with you two about everything. And plus, I'm just sick of keeping it a secret. Only one other person knows it, and they tried to use it against me, and I don't want that anymore… So I'm going to tell you two, but I don't want you to tell anyone else because I'm not quite ready for that. Okay?"

"Alec, whatever it is you're trying to tell us, you're avoiding it by babbling," Isabelle said gently. "Just tell us. What's your secret?"

Before he chickened out, Alec quickly blurted out, "I'm gay."

Isabelle stayed silent but Jace jumped to his feet and practically shouted, "what? Why are you only telling us this now? Seriously, Alec? You kept something that big from us?"

"I'm sorry!" Alec said, body shaking with nerves from what he'd finally admitted after all these years. "I was scared, Jace. You're always trying to set me up with girls and I thought you wouldn't like me if I told you that it's guys I'm interested in…"

"You're my brother, Alec. Do you really think I'd ever hate you just because you don't like girls? No. It just means more girls for me! Wait… You said that only one other person knows this. You told somebody else before you told me? Who else knows?"

"Magnus," Alec said quietly.

"_Magnus? _The prick who lets you get bullied despite you being his best friend years ago? Why would you tell him and not me?" _Because I thought I was in love with you, _Alec thought, but didn't say out loud. "Alec. Alec, please tell me that you and Magnus aren't together. Because you can do better than him."

Alec shook his head and looked away from Jace's angry gaze, staring down at the floor instead. "We were um, kind of together this week. I wouldn't really call it a relationship but you know, we kissed and hung out a lot," he felt his cheeks blushing red with embarrassment. "But then Maia told me about a bet Magnus and Ragnor had and… I finished things with Magnus."

"What bet?" Jace asked, strangely now sounding calm.

"Ragnor bet Magnus £200 that he couldn't _get with _me and take naked photos of me; then break up with me in front of the whole school, and then send the naked photos everywhere. Like he did with that Sebastian guy. He said that after we got close again he wasn't going to go through with it, but I don't trust him so I don't know whether to believe what he says or not."

"I'll kill him," Jace mumbled before rushing out of the room.

"For God's sake," Isabelle sighed, running after him.

Alec followed behind them, feeling a rush of fear as he realized which room they were heading towards: Magnus' room. When Alec and Izzy got to Magnus' room, Jace had just burst through the door. He put his hands on Magnus' chest and shoved him roughly backwards, causing him to stumble and smack his back off the wall.

"Jace! What are you doing?" Maia exclaimed with a gasp.

"Did you honestly think you'd get away with it?" Jace shouted at Magnus, completely ignoring Maia. "You thought you could just take advantage of Alec and then fucking treat him like shit? You bastard!"

He pulled back his fist and punched Magnus in the face, so hard that the thump sounded like the bang of a loud drum. Or maybe that was just what it sounded like to Alec because although a large part of him hated Magnus for everything that had happened, he still cared about his old friend, whether he'd admit it or not. Maia screamed; Alec stood frozen in horror, not sure what to do; Isabelle, being the toughest of the three, quickly moved to stand in front of Jace, blocking him from hitting Magnus again which he clearly wanted to do.

After hearing the commotion, Mayrse and Jemima rushed into the room. Alec wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, he was too busy thinking about how bad things had gone in such a short amount of time. He was proud of himself for finally being brave enough to come out to his brother and sister and glad that they didn't seem to hate him for it, and although he wasn't shocked by Jace's reaction to the bet - he could get quite violent when it came to people hurting his family - he was angry that he had hit Magnus. Then he hated himself for still not wanting Magnus to get hurt; surely after everything he should hate him so much that he _wanted_ him to get hurt?

As Mayrse started shouting at Jace, Jemima and Maia took Magnus downstairs to put some ice on his face. Isabelle came over to Alec and wrapped her arms around him. "I've know you were gay for a while now," she said gently, making sure to keep it quiet enough that Mayrse wouldn't hear. "I'm so proud of you for finally admitting it to us, Alec. And just for the record, I don't care that you're gay, I don't see why it would be a problem… And this thing with Magnus… Things will get better, Alec. I just know they will."

"Thank you," Alec whispered the heartfelt words, not really knowing what else to say to express his love and gratitude for his younger sister. He wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug and prayed that she was right about things getting better.

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**Awh aren't we all just so proud of Alec being brave & coming out to Jace and Izzy? :')**

**I'm sorry if Jace's swearing offends anybody, I just imagine him to be the kind of person to swear when they're angry. The swearing's basically why I rated it a T, just to be on the safe side.**

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews, they make me smile so much!**

**Next chapter will be the first day back at school I think. I plan on making it a lot longer than this one, woo :) xo**


	15. Chapter 13

**Ok, I have a few things to apologize for:**

**1. I promised you that this chapter would be longer than the previous one, and it's actually way shorter.  
2. The update took longer than I normally take.  
3. This chapter kinda really sucks & I don't really like it.**

**The reason for all those is basically that I had terrible writer's block. I rewrote the chapter about 10 times to make sure it was perfect, but it never turned out right. I don't why, I just wasn't capable of writing very well this week :( Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things & make the next update way better.**

**Anyway, I thought I'd post this chapter because although it's short and not very good, it's better than nothing. At least I hope it is anyway. Please don't hate me.**

**Thank you for the reviews, it means so much to me. xo**

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The Lightwood family had left the house to go home the very next day seeing as Jace's explanation for hitting Magnus was that he 'felt like it', and he refused to go home. Even though the house belonged to the Lightwood's, the Bane family stayed there for the remainder of the holiday.

Two weeks off from school hadn't changed a thing. Nobody had matured into better people all of a sudden, nobody have revised and learnt the answers to the teachers' questions so they sat there in a dumb silence for minutes until the teacher gave up, nobody suddenly wanted to be friends with Alec… And Magnus was still hanging around with Ragnor's group, despite how much he had insisted he wanted to change.

Alec had successfully managed to avoid Magnus all day… Until last lesson. A-Level classes were never big, and there were only 15 students in Alec's English class. He slid into his seat on the front row, and the lesson began. He wasn't particularly surprised when he felt paper balls being thrown at his head - that was just one thing they did just for the sake of being mean to him. Like usually, he ignored them and hoped they would give up if he gave them no reaction. It never worked.

When the teacher left the classroom for a moment, Alec prepared himself for Ragnor breaking the silence and bullying him; something he was very used to by now. 1...2...3... "Oi Lightwood." _Here we go, _Alec thought to himself and turned around in his seat to look at Ragnor. Beside him sat Magnus, his head down and his long, straightened hair covering his face. "How were your holidays? Make any friends? I doubt it, you'll always be a loner." Like usually, Alec didn't reply. "You're such a coward! You never defend yourself, it's beyond pathetic."

Alec turned back around in his seat and sighed. Why couldn't he just leave him alone? Just for one day? Alec knew that Ragnor only bullied him because he knew about how he and Magnus used to be close friends, and he thought that if Alec seemed like a complete loser, Magnus wouldn't want to be friends with him again.

"So, you're ignoring me now?" Ragnor laughed. "Have I hurt little Alec's feelings? No wonder you have no friends - you're weak, ugly, gay, useless. Well, the list could just go on forever."

"Ragnor." Alec spun around when he heard Magnus' voice. "That's enough now. Leave him alone."

"Wait, are you sticking up for him?" Ragnor turned to Magnus, frowning furiously. "Why would you stick up for _him_?"

"Because he doesn't deserve all the shit you give him!" Magnus shouted. "You're the pathetic one if you think bullying him is funny. Notice how nobody else is laughing, Rags? That's because everybody's tired of you being a fucking arsehole."

"You-"

"Back to silence," the teacher said in his monotone voice as he re-entered the room. "Get on with answering the questions on your page please."

Alec turned back around and thought about what had just happened.

Magnus had defended him… But why?

Perhaps he really had changed like he said he wanted to.

Either way, it wasn't enough for Alec to forgive Magnus so quickly.

-#-

The silence in the classroom had been unbearable after Magnus stuck up for Alec. He hadn't even meant to say anything to Ragnor right then, he was going to say something after class in private, but he just couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't right for him to say those things, Alec had done absolutely nothing wrong.

After class, Magnus longed to talk to Alec, but the other boy had rushed out of the room and disappeared from sight by the time Magnus got into the corridor. "Where are you going?" Ragnor clamped a hand down on Magnus' shoulder, pulling him over to the side and out of people's way. "What the hell was that in there? I'm your best friend, Magnus. Why would you talk to me like that?"

Magnus sighed and shook his head. "This isn't how it's meant to be. What sort of person encourages his best friend to ruin somebody's life just for the sake of a bet? It isn't right! We're not best friends, we barely even like each other!"

"Magnus, if you're not friends with me, you won't be popular anymore. You'll be a loser like Lightwood."

Magnus hesitated. He had done so much - hurting people, sleeping around, keeping fake friends instead of real friends - just so he could be popular. Why would he let all that go so easily and quickly? He liked being popular… But _Alec_. Magnus wanted Alec back and although he knew that wouldn't happen fast, he still had hopes that over time, he may be able to make Alec's hate for him go away, and maybe, just maybe, they could be happy together again. If he _really_ wanted that to happen, he knew he would have to change a few things to prove to Alec that he was serious about not wanting to stay the same type of person.

"Fine," he said to Ragnor. "I'm not going to stay friends with you just to stay popular anymore. Popularity's not the most important thing to me anymore."

"You're going to regret that decision," Ragnor answered before storming away.


	16. Chapter 14

**Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter. Considering I wasn't keen on it, it was reassuring to know that you all still liked it. I tried to make this one slightly longer than the chapters I normally write, just to make up for the shortness of the previous one.**

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The week passed unbelievably slowly for both of the boys but they found themselves both having a complete personality change. Because of Ragnor, none of Magnus' old friends would speak barely two words to him. He only missed one or two of them - the others had never really seemed like close friends, more like acquaintances to be honest - but because Ragnor was the 'king' of the school, people were intimidated by him and tended to do whatever he told them to. Magnus worked incredibly hard to keep a low profile. He styled his hair so that it covered his face; he wore only minimal make-up; he wore normal clothes instead of his out-there sparkly ones. He had no friends anymore so he sat in classes on his own and walked around school alone, never meeting anybody's eyes and ignoring the taunts Ragnor and his friends called out to him. Just like they used to do with Alec. Honestly, it bothered and upset Magnus to hear them say those things, but he was happily taking all of the hate in his stride because it seemed like they had backed off Alec to focus their attention on Magnus; Magnus loved seeing Alec around school with a smile on his face for once. On a more positive note however, he and Maia were hanging out more again; she was encouraging him to start acting and dressing like himself again but as much as he wanted to, he just didn't feel good about himself right now, so he was dressing to reflect his mood.

Alec was an entirely different matter. He was genuinely, positively happy; a feeling he hadn't felt in years. He hadn't even felt this happy when he briefly dated Magnus because there were always underlying conflicting emotions about the whole bullying situation. By coming out of the closet to Izzy and Jace, and staying strong by not giving Magnus another chance, Alec had become more confident in himself. Not much more confident, but enough so that he didn't feel self-conscious walking down the school corridors anymore. Alec had a habit of staying on his own at school because Jace and Izzy tended to get a lot of attention so he always felt uncomfortable being around them because of people's staring. But it was different now. He forced himself to ignore the staring, and although it still made him blush to not be 'invisible' anymore, which led to him and his siblings becoming even closer. Despite all this however, he did have little moments where he felt slightly sad because he couldn't avoid Magnus at school and he saw how miserable the other boy was. It troubled him to see such a confident, bubbly teenager turn into what seemed like a depressive mess, and he had decided that next week at school he would approach Magnus. He wasn't going to lie, he was still upset about the bet, but he felt like Magnus had been punished enough by losing all of his friends and his popularity; it just wasn't fair for him to suffer so badly. He wasn't sure about him and Magnus getting back together just yet, but would it really be bad if they started to build a friendship again? It was worth a try if it made Magnus feel a little less lonelier, Alec thought.

-#-

Alec was slightly pissed off at Jace. His brother had wanted to take Clary out for a meal at the new Italian restaurant in the area, but her best friend had been visiting for just a short while and she wanted to spend time with him. Her best friend, Simon, just so happened to be gay so Jace had come up with the 'brilliant' idea for a double date. Alec didn't want to date anybody, he was still getting over being hurt from his first sort-of boyfriend; Jace had told him that he didn't have to make any moves on Simon, just sitting there and attempting to make conversation with him was enough, although Alec saw a glint in Jace's eyes that clearly showed he was trying to set his brother up.

It was the first time Alec had met Clary and honestly, he was surprised with what the girl was like. She didn't look or act anything like Jace's usual type but Alec guessed that must be a good thing because Jace had never been so smitten or been in a relationship for so long. She seemed nice, although a little quiet; she was as eager as Jace was for Alec and Simon to sit next to each other.

Simon was currently chatting away to Alec. He seemed like a decent guy and he _was_ a little cute, but Alec couldn't even think about being anything more than friends with him. Alec was more interested in guys that wore make-up and sparkly clothes and- _No_. He stopped himself from having those thoughts right there and nodded along to what Simon was saying.

Alec blushed as Simon blurted out, "Clary mentioned that Jace said you were single and looking for somebody to go on a date with or something…"

"Oh, did he now?" Alec asked bitterly, sending a glare towards Jace who didn't see Alec's expression as he was currently whispering something into Clary's ear while she giggled away. "Look, Simon… I'm not interested in dating anybody right now, it's just too soon after- Just too soon, okay? I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Simon smiled. "You're not actually my type anyway, I was going to tell you that I hope you didn't have your hopes up that we could go on a date together, I'm not really looking for anybody right now either. We can still be friends though, yeah?"

"Oh, of course," Alec nodded, smiling thankfully at him for being so understanding. And then, out of the corner of his eye, he was certain he saw a flash of glitter. Without thinking, he looked to his left and saw who he thought he'd seen: Magnus. He looked like the old Magnus for the first time this week: bold make-up, spiky hair, glittery and tight clothes. Alec smiled at the sight, glad that the other boy was starting to dress more like himself again, but the smile turned into a grimace when he saw that another boy was sat across from Magnus. Alec didn't know the boy although he looked about the same age as him - he had silver hair and almond-shaped eyes, snow white skin and a cute smile.

Was Magnus on a date? Alec knew that he really had no right to dictate whether or not Magnus could date other guys or not, but wasn't Magnus the one that said Alec had changed his old ways? Wasn't he the one that had said Alec was special to him and practically begged for another chance? Alec's mind was blathered about how Magnus could move on so quickly despite leading Alec to believe that he was more than just a fling to him. He knew that he was jumping to conclusions and Magnus may just be out with a friend, but why take him to a romantic Italian restaurant? Alec didn't know what to think, he just knew that he felt defeated and broken at the thought of Magnus finding it easy to move on and go on a date with some other guy.

Thankfully, he didn't have to sit there and watch Magnus with this mysterious, gorgeous guy, because his little group had just paid the bill and were getting ready to leave. As they stood up, Alec cast another glance over at Magus. "Alec, are you ready to g-" Jace started, cutting off when he saw where his brother was looking. "Ah hell."

"What's the matter?" Clary asked curiously. "Who is that?"

"Magnus Bane, the guy I was telling you about." Jace's voice was bitter. "Alec, come on. Let's just go." He put his hand on his shoulder and Alec was grateful that he was sympathetic instead of charging over there and getting mad at Magnus.

Alec watched as Magnus and his date burst out laughing, both looking euphorically happy. Alec sighed and nodded slowly. "Okay, let's go."

-#-

"She's just a bitch!" Isabelle exclaimed grumpily as soon as the movie finished. "There was clearly room on that board for Jack to join her, she didn't have to let him die! I will never forgive Rose for letting him die like that."

"It's not real, it's just a movie," Alec rolled his eyes. "And besides, the board would have sunk with both of their weights on it."

Isabelle continued moaning about Titanic as if Alec hadn't spoken. "She promises that she'll never let go, and what does she do? She lets go and he dies. Cutie-pie dies. It isn't fair."

"If you actually listened properly, she was promising not to let go of the promise she made him," Alec pointed out.

"Whatever, the movie's stupid." She turned the TV off using the remote before shifting on the sofa so she was facing Alec. "So Jace told me about yesterday."

"I don't want to talk about it," Alec said quietly, followed by a long, tired sigh.

"I know. But let _me_ talk about it. The thing is, Magnus hasn't really done anything wrong by going on a date with somebody; he's single, that's allowed. You finished with him, told him you were only going to give him one chance and he ruined it. He's clearly been miserable because he doesn't think you and him will ever get back together, plus he's lost all of his friends. He probably just went on the date to try and cheer himself up, don't you think he deserves it after everything Ragnor and his friends are saying?"

"Well… I suppose so," Alec replied hesitantly. "I want him to be happy, even after what he did to me, and it was nice to see him smiling considering he's been depressive all week… It just hurts seeing him move on so quickly, Izzy." Nearer to the end of his words, his voice started shaking and before he even registered it, tears started to well in his eyes and different emotions buzzed throughout his whole body.

Izzy pulled Alec into a hug and kissed the top of his head. "I know, I know. Relationships suck, they really do."

* * *

**Hope you liked it! Everything about Magnus' date will be revealed in the next chapter, I promise :-) xo**


	17. Chapter 15

Magnus was in an extraordinarily good mood, not just because he was dressed like himself again, but because he was out for the evening with Jem. Like Magnus, Jem was bisexual, and the pair had dated briefly about a year ago. The relationship hadn't lasted very long because they simply believed they were better off as friends. He hadn't seen Jem in just over a month so it was nice to see his friend again. He had to admit that it had been a surprise to get a phone call off Jem, asking him if he wanted to go to dinner for a catch-up, but he happily said yes; the good mood led him to get closer to being himself again, hence why he was dressed like he normally did again.

By the time the waiter came over to take their orders, Magnus and Jem were laughing together as they recalled memories. As Jem told the waiter his order, Magnus heard a familiar loud, husky laugh that he was pretty sure belonged to Jace. He looked across the room and saw Jace walking towards the doors with an arm around a small, redheaded girl. Next to him was Alec, nodding as a boy with messy dark hair talked to him. The other boy leaned in closer to Alec as he laughed, causing Magnus to feel bitter at just the thought of another guy getting close to Alec. They disappeared out of the door and Magnus had the sudden urge to chase after them, tell Alec not to get close to this other guy because he should be with Magnus, nobody else. But he knew that he had no right to try and control Alec's love life, so he stayed glued to his seat.

"Were they friends of yours?" Jem asked.

Magnus looked back at his friend and shook his head. "Not really, I just go to school with them. So what did you want to meet up with me for? Trying to seduce me again?" He asked, trying to force a teasing tone into his voice but knowing full well that he had failed.

Jem narrowed his eyes and tilted his head; Magnus could tell instantly that he was trying to figure out what was wrong. "You wish," Jem replied with a laugh. "No, I actually wanted to go to dinner with you for a little farewell type thing between friends. My way of saying goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Magnus asked, thoughts of Alec now put to the back of his mind after his brain registered what Jem had said. "Why?"

"I've dropped out of my sixth form because I got offered a job in New York, working as an assistant choreographer at a really big dance school over there. It's a huge step to get closer to my dream: being a professional choreographer and having my own dance studio. I start next week, so I'm leaving tomorrow so I can get my new place set up," Jem said proudly.

"Seriously? Jem, that's brilliant! Why are you only telling me now though?" A huge grin was spread across his face in happiness for his friend.

"I wanted to tell you in person," he shrugged. "So, that's my news. Do you have any? What's going on in the life of Magnus Bane?"

"Nothing good," he chuckled darkly. "Let's just say, I had a very short relationship with a guy that I really liked. But I messed it up and he dumped me."

"And you want him back," Jem guessed. "He must be special if you're so hung up on him, that's not like you at all."

"He _is_ special," Magnus nodded. "He's amazing, Jem. But I don't stand a chance of getting him back. I keep telling myself that I'll get him back somehow, but I don't believe it will ever happen. I gave up my popularity at school for him, Jem; that's how important he is to me. And he _still_ won't even barely look at me, never mind talk to me. I'm so close to just giving up and forcing myself to move on from him, although I know it'll be bloody difficult."

"Wait, hold up a second," Jem looked positively flabbergasted. "Magnus Bane is giving up on something that he very badly wants? Since when did that happen? Have you had a complete personality transplant or something?"

"I can't force him to want to be with me, Jem," he sighed. "And he made it pretty clear that he wouldn't give me another chance."

They fell silent for a moment as their food arrived, but as soon as the waiter left and they started eating, Jem shook his head in disbelief and said, "since when have you ever took no for an answer, Magnus? When you want something, you make sure you get it. How is this any different? I don't know why you're suddenly acting like a new person, but the old Magnus would have fought for this guy and made sure that he got another chance to prove to him that he's worth it and they should be together. Man, the guy clearly belongs with you if he managed to get you to give up your popularity _and_ make you actually consider a long-term relationship. If you really like him, fight for him."

"It's not that simple!" Magnus protested. "He hates me, Jem."

"Have you tried talking to him since you split?"

"Well, no but-"

"You have to at least try, Magnus! And don't forget to call me to tell me how it goes," he winked and laughed.

Magnus rolled his eyes and used eating as an excuse not to reply. He had took in all of what Jem had said and knew that he was right: usually, he wouldn't give up so easily, he'd fight for what he wanted. Why did that have to be different regarding the Alec situation? He'd told himself that he and Alec might be able to get back together and be happy again if he changed the type of person he was, and he had been working on changing and becoming nicer. He'd got rid of his fake friends, he'd worked harder at school, he'd become more considerate of others… He was definitely different now. Wasn't it worth a try to make Alec notice this?

He wanted Alec back in his life.

He decided to take Jem's advice and at least try.

-#-

Monday morning, Alec had a free period so he headed off to the sixth form common room to do some studying. The room was quiet when he entered, with just a few people spread out on the sofas and tables. He stopped walking midway to the tables when he noticed that Magnus was sat at one of them, looking through a school textbook. He was dressed back in his glittery clothes with bold make-up, as if last week had never happened. _Guess his new boyfriend has cheered him up enough to get him back to his old self, _Alec thought to himself sullenly. He shook the thought from his mind as he remembered Izzy's words about how Magnus deserved a little bit of happiness in his life.

He took a deep breath and bravely walked over to the table, pulling the chair back and sitting down next to Magnus. The other boy looked sideways at him, eyes widening in shock when he saw that it was Alec sat there. "Hey, Alexander," he said gently.

"Magnus… We need to talk."

* * *

**I'm sorry if you don't like that Jem is slightly OOC but that's just how he turned out while I was writing it, haha.**

**Also, I've planned the ending of this fic out & I think it has about 3 chapters left (I've always preferred to write fanfics with less than 20 chapters). But don't worry, I'm only ending it so soon because I have a sequel planned out which I promise will be a lot better than this because I plan to make the storyline better, there's a lot more Malec happiness, and I'm going to work extra hard to make the chapters longer. xo **


	18. Chapter 16

**I apologize for the fact that it took me so long to update. My internet was down, and then I spent a lot of time and effort on this chapter because I wanted to make it perfect... I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, so I hope you like it :-) **

**Also, please read the note at the end of this once you've finished reading. xo**

* * *

Human beings have plenty of emotions and a lot of the time, they have more than one emotion bouncing around in their minds and hearts. When they're in miserable moods the air becomes poignant and suffocating; when they're in great moods, the air seems fresh and clear. It's like the environment is reflecting their moods. Sometimes it becomes hard for them to contain so many emotions at once and they just explode like a volcano erupting. Emotions are hard things. Many people often wish they didn't feel so much all the time.

"We need to talk."

Four words with so many possible outcomes. Many people used those words right before they worked up the courage to verbalise their emotions and views on a subject regarding something to do with another person.

Alec found it strange how contradicting all of his current emotions were. Irritated and heartbroken, yes. But they were also quite confused, puzzled and unsuspecting as to how this conversation would pan out because he was about to find out whether or not an important person to him would be in his future. But then… There was also the underlying emotion of happy relief running through his veins from being close to Magnus again and talking to him properly for the first time in what felt like a while, but had in fact only been a short amount of time when you really thought about it.

"I know," Magnus nodded in agreement. "A long needed talk considering we've barely even discussed everything that went on between us."

"Yeah…" Alec sighed. "I was having dinner with Jace, Clary, and Clary's friend the other day and we saw you there, with some guy. I know it's none of my business because we're not together, or even friends really, but I guess I just need to know for my own peace of mind… Have you moved on? Are you with somebody else now?"

"No!" He replied quickly. "No, that was just Jem. A friend of mine, it was like a farewell dinner because he's moving to New York. I could never just move on from you that quickly, you were more special to me than other people have been, Alec."

Alec didn't know how to feel about this revelation of the truth. He was glad that Magnus hadn't moved on, but it certainly would have made things easier if he had - Alec could have just walked away with a broken, rejected heart, but he would had recovered over time and wouldn't have had to continue with this serious conversation.

"Do you forgive me?" Magnus blurted out. "For the whole thing with the bet?"

He paused before he answered so he could think up the right words to say. "Yes. I forgive you. I'll admit that at first, I didn't even consider forgiving you because I thought that you were lying about changing your mind about going through with the bet. But then I believed you when you defended me against Ragnor and literally gave up your whole social life - thank you for that, by the way."

"Don't worry about it," Magnus smiled; a beautiful smile that Alec had always adored. "I got sick of seeing him talk to you like that. He's an idiot, I didn't want to be friends with somebody like that. And besides, you didn't deserve to be spoken to like that, you did nothing wrong to provoke him. And I've realized that popularity isn't all that… It's nice to actually have some privacy and quiet, you know?"

A huge smile spread across Alec's face, before he sighed regretfully. "How did we let ourselves become like this? We used to be best friends and now half of the time it's awkward between us and there's some kind of drama going on between us. Sometimes I just wish we could be as close friends as we used to be. I miss our friendship more than anything, Magnus."

"Me too. I'll always wonder 'what if?' whilst thinking about all the things that made us drift apart and what would have happened if we'd reacted differently. I always wonder what we'd be like around each other now if we remained best friends over the years: would we still be just best friends? Would our friendship have grown into a relationship? I regret so many things in my life, but I know I can't change them. All I can do is try and look to the future instead of dwelling on things in the past."

Alec briefly marvelled about when Magnus had become so wise, but then he thought that maybe Magnus always been this wise and mature, he'd just hidden it behind all of his confident bravado and didn't show just how intelligent he truly was. "I think about all of that too," Alec whispered, almost inaudibly. Louder, he said, "but like you said, there's nothing we can do to change the things in the past."

Magnus nodded, then said, "I miss you."

"I miss you," Alec replied simply.

"Can we please try again?" Magnus asked, putting his hand on top of Alec's on the table. "A clean slate, new start. We'll both put in the effort to make the relationship work. I know Jace won't like it, so I'll try and get along with him just for you, because I know that you're close with your brother and his approval means a lot to you. And we can see each other in private if that's what you want, until you feel ready to come out to everybody else."

And now it was decision time. Time to make a choice that may possibly lay out the foundations of his future and would indicate whether or not Magnus would remain to be in his life.

Magnus' little 'offer' was considerate, Alec had to admit. He had acknowledged Alec's fears of coming out as being gay to other people and was willing to at least attempt to get along with a guy whom he had hated since their very first meeting. If he and Alec became a couple, Alec knew that they would both be happy and that he would be able to trust Magnus and rely on him in his times of need.

But he couldn't help thinking that it was just a bit too soon. They had shared a rollercoaster of emotions since they'd grown close again during their mini-holiday with their families and just a few days ago, Alec had resented Magnus. Granted, it had been because he was jealous of seeing him on a date and he now knew the truth, that it wasn't actually a date, but still. Wasn't it too quick to jump straight into a relationship when they'd only just started to talk things through?

_But it's Magnus, _he thought to himself in despair. Magnus, the boy he had known practically his whole life and knew more about Alec than most other people did. It may have been too soon for other people, but Alec was sure the two of them would be able to last if they both put the past behind them and really did make an effort.

His thoughts and doubts ran through his mind in a blur, before he finally made his decision.

He pulled his hand away from Magnus' and hesitated from speaking when he saw the other boy's hopeful expression drift from his face. "I want you to be in my life," Alec said, "but not in the way you want be. Not yet, anyway. I think you're right: if we both put in effort, we could make a relationship between us work this time… But aren't good relationships meant to be effortless and just perfect in their own way without trying to force it?"

"Well, yeah…" Magnus said, his eyebrows furrowing together. "But does this mean that I can't be in your life?"

"No," Alec shook his head. "Of course it doesn't mean that. It means that I think we should just be friends. I'd prefer for us to rebuild our friendship and then in time, maybe that could lead to a relationship. Maybe it won't and we'll realise that being just friends is enough, but that'll be okay because we'll still have each other… That is, if you want to be friends again."

"I'd love to," Magnus nodded and smiled happily. "I think that's probably for the best: be just friends for now and see how it goes. Okay. Friends."

"Friends," Alec repeated, returning the smile.

And that was the moment that Alec realised what he was: the exception. Nobody in Magnus Bane's life had ever understood him completely; nobody had made an effort to stick around; nobody had given him a second, and then a third, chance… Apart from Alec.

The pair of them had very nearly let their emotions get the best of them. Their jealousy, bitterness and obsession with the past, had nearly destroyed their chances of ever being permanent fixtures in each other's lives. Emotions are hard things, yes. And many people do wish they didn't feel so much all of the time.

But what would we be without emotions? Would everybody just feel empty and vacant? Listless and dead? What sort of life would that be for anybody? Without emotions - pure, heartfelt emotions - nobody would ever stand a chance at happiness or a good life.

Alec and Magnus were both left with smiles on their faces the rest of the day. And when Isabelle asked her brother what had happened a few hours after school ended, she had been expecting Alec to inform her the pair were a couple now.

But Alec had replied that they were "just friends."

And for now, he was okay with that.

* * *

**Right, so I know I said on the last chapter that there were only 3 chapters left, but after writing this I decided that _this is the final chapter!_**

**This story is now complete, although I'm not changing it's status to complete yet, simply because I am going to start a sequel & when I have the first part of that up, I'll add a new 'chapter' to this, to let you all know that the sequel is up, if that makes sense.**

**Thank you so so much to everybody that's read, reviewed or added this to favourites/alerts list, it means so much to me that you have liked the story and support me in my writing. I hope you didn't hate the ending, I think this was just more realistic than them jumping back into the relationship so quickly, plus it makes the sequel more interesting. **

**Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter! I'm hoping to have the first part of the sequel up in a few days if anybody was wondering.**

**Char. xo**


	19. Note

Just so you all know, chapter 1 of the sequel is now up :-)

It wouldn't let me connect a link for some reason unfortunately, so you'll have to go onto my page and get to it that way if you want to read it. It's called 'The Memories'.

Char xo


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